Moore left Monday's start in the fifth inning with elbow pain. He will be out at least 15 days, and maybe much longer.
"Anytime a pitcher goes on the DL and is going to see Dr. Andrews, you have reason to be concerned." - Rays executive vice president Andrew Friedman
Rays pitcher Matt Moore was placed on the 15-day disabled list on Tuesday. After an MRI exam proved inconclusive, the left-hander will visit Dr. James Andrews in Pensacola, Fla. for further evaluation. The injury was worse than initially diagnosed by Rays team trainer Ron Porterfield.
"From the original test it was a little bit worse, or more, than we had thought originally because (Monday) night Ronnie was pretty confident it was not going to be at the level that it had been last year," Rays manager Joe Maddon told Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. "But it was a little bit more than we thought originally."
Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports reported that he heard Moore's elbow injury involves his ulnar collateral ligament, which would most likely mean season-ending Tommy John surgery. Moore said if surgery is required he wants to get the procedure done as soon as possible, per Topkin.
"I don't think necessarily the surgery part concerns me or the rehab part, it's the preparation that went into this season for the guys in the locker room and everyone that goes into this particular organization, a lot of high hopes, a lot of expectations and things that we prepared for this season that I very much want to be a part of, and I have not ruled out any part of that," Moore said.
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A pitcher and his shortstop ![]()
Braun goes deep thrice
Entering Tuesday, Brewers outfielder Ryan Bruan was 3-for-20 with three singles and a walk in five games, and not much of a factor at the plate so far this season. That all changed against the Phillies, as Braun hit three home runs in a 10-4 win for Milwaukee.
His three-run home run in the third inning against Kyle Kendrick snapped a 1-1 tie and was Braun's first home run since May 22, 2013, snapping a streak of 77 plate appearances without a long ball.
Tuesday was the second three-home-run game of Braun's career, matching his performance on April 30, 2012 in San Diego.
Scoreless showdown in Kansas City
The Rays were without Moore, but sent another young stud to the mound against the Royals on Tuesday. Chris Archer didn't disappoint, with seven scoreless innings in a game Tampa Bay ultimately won 1-0 thanks to a ninth inning on an RBI single by James Loney.
But Archer wasn't alone in mound brilliance, as Royals hurler Yordano Ventura made his 2014 debut with six scoreless innings of his own with six strikeouts in just his fourth major league start. In just nine days of regular season baseball (plus two more in Australia), there have already been five games that saw both starting pitchers through scoreless ball for at least six innings (thanks to the great Baseball-Reference):
- March 31: Cubs (Jeff Samardzija) at Pirates (Francisco Liriano)
- March 31: Indians (Justin Masterson) at Athletics (Sonny Gray)
- April 2: Cardinals (Michael Wacha) at Reds (Tony Cingrani)
- April 6: Rangers (Yu Darvish) at Rays (Alex Cobb)
- Tuesday: Rays (Archer) at Royals (Ventura)